Scotland Grand Masters World Cup 2016

Newcastle, New South Wales 3-12 May 2016

Scotland Grand Masters were thwarted in their quest for medals by Japan, who beat them to second place in their first round pool. With only two places available in the quarter finals for third placed teams, Scotland had to take part in a three way penalty shoot out against New Zealand and Wales who finished in third place in their pools - they won both play offs to progress. They put on a great performance against the eventual champions, Netherlands, but went down 3-1 to drop into the 5-8 play offs. A win over New Zealand led to a final match for 5th/6th place against South Africa, who beat Scotland to leave the Scots in sixth place.

Pool Matches (Pool C)

4 May Scotland 6 (Sturrock 3, Morrison, Bishop, Johnstone) Malaysia 0

Scotland, playing in a 3-5-2 formation with Ian Wilson at sweeper, Gordon Loudon at right back and John Hay at left back, produced a stirring performance of fast, purposeful hockey in their opening match. A Niall Sturrock hat trick through two field goals and a penalty corner before 20 minutes had passed put Scotland well on the way to a convincing victory with a 3-0 lead at the half time break. To counter the only Malaysian threat, the strongly hit long ball, Scotland reverted to four at the back, bringing in Alan Moulds as an additional defender, for the second half. This reduced their previous domination of the midfield, and Scotland went back to the original 3-5-2, scoring a penalty corner from Bernie Morrison after a switch to the left in 47 minutes to increase their lead to 4-0. Further goals from Hew Bishop (field goal, originally attributed to Bernie Morrison) and Derek Johnstone (penalty corner, again from a switch to the left scored after the final whistle) sealed a fine 6-0 victory for Scotland. This was a very good team performance, giving hopes for a good result the following day against England, who had beaten Japan 3-0 in their first match.

5 May England 3 (Smith, Robinson, Haigh) Scotland 1 (Sturrock)

In hot, afternoon conditions, Scotland started strongly, pressing England high up the pitch. A breakaway in ten minutes led to a goal for England scored by Smith, totally against the run of play. England were encouraged by the score and the Scots struggled to create gaps in the English defence, while Ali Ross in the Scottish goal was kept busy, keeping the English at bay during the rest of the half. The third quarter proved decisive. The speed and determination of Scottish strikers Bernie Morrison and Hew Bishop kept Scots hopes alive but a Robinson penalty corner in 42 minutes added a second for England, and worse was to follow when Haigh scored a third in 47 minutes after a dazzling piece of stick work. Scotland responded strongly, forcing a short corner which Niall Sturrock converted in 48 minutes with a shot just inside the near post. Scotland had England on the ropes for a time but could not find the second goal which would made for an interesting last ten minutes, but the heat was wearing out both sets of players, and mistakes on both sides brought the match to a scrappy conclusion. In the other pool match, Japan and Malaysia fought out a goalless draw. Following a rest day on 6 May, Scotland take on Japan on 7 May knowing that a draw would almost certainly be enough to guarantee second place, while only a major shock would prevent England qualifying in first place.

7 May Japan 3 (Takamori 2, Yokomizo) Scotland 1 (Paton)

Japan got off to a flying start with a field goalwhen a cross from Takamori was deflected into the net off a Scottish defender's stick in the second minute. Scotland played quite well but ball pace was poor, and the first touch by the forwards was not up to the usual standard against a Japanese side which defended in depth. Glenn Paton levelled the score with a goal after a switch to the right at a penalty corner after 27 minutes but Japan replied immediately with a second field goal, a replica of the first, a deflected cross from Takamori, to go in one up at the half time break. Yokomizo with the aid of yet another deflection made it 3-1 for Japan four minutes into the second half and Scotland could not find the net again, losing the match and second place in the pool to the Japanese. Scotland converted only one out of twenty penalty corners and played most of the match in the opposition half, but they were thwarted by resolute defending and excellent goalkeeping. They now had to face two penalty shoot outs against the teams coming third in the other pools in order to qualify for the quarter finals.

7 May 17:45 Penalty Shoot Outs

New Zealand 2 Scotland 3 (Sturrock, Candlin, Bishop)

Scotland 3 (Sturrock, Candlin, Gibson) Wales 2

Scottish keeper Alistair Ross was outstanding, saving three opposition attempts in each of the two penalty shoot out competitions against the teams finishing third in the other two pools. Scotland won both legs of their penalty shoot outs against New Zealand and Wales to seal their place in the quarter finals against Netherlands, winners of Pool B.

Pool C

P

W

D

L

F

A

Pt

GD

England

3

3

0

0

12

2

9

10

Japan

3

1

1

1

3

4

4

-1

Scotland

3

1

0

2

8

6

3

2

Malaysia

3

0

1

2

1

12

1

-11

The team finishing fourth in Pool C went into the 9-13 play offs along with the teams finishing fourth and fifth in Pool A and the team finishing fourth in Pool B. Scotland finished third in Pool C and took part in a penalty shoot out on Pitch 1 with the two New Zealand and Wales, the teams finishing third in the other two pools. Scotland won both their legs and New Zealand beat Wales to join Scotland in the quarter finals while Wales went into the 9-13 play offs.

Finals and Play Offs

The five teams in the 9-13 play-offs played each other in a round robin, counting previous results in the pool matches rather than playing the same opponents twice.

Scotland finished third and were successful in the penalty shoot out, and played Netherlands, winners of Pool B, in the quarter finals.

The winners of the quarter finals went into the 1-4 semi finals to play off for positions 1-4 and the losers took part in the 5-8 semi finals.

9 May quarter finals and first round of 9-13 play offs

Australia beat Japan 4-0, Germany beat South Africa 2-0 in a penalty shoot out after a 2-2 draw and England beat New Zealand 2-0, the winners joining Netherlands in the semi finals while the losers, including Scotland, play off for 5th to 8th positions.

9 May Netherlands 3 Scotland 1 (Bishop)

Two penalty corner goals by van der Meulen at the start and end of the first quarter put Netherlands into a strong position but a field goal scored by Hew Bishop in 20 minutes brought Scotland back into the match. However van Geel scored a field goal in 42 minutes to restore the two goal cushion for Netherlands, and in spite of three green cards awarded to Netherlands players in the second half, Scotland could not claw back the deficit and will now play off for 5th - 8th place, starting with a match against New Zealand on 10 May. The winner will go on to the 5-6 final and the loser to the 7-8 final. Scotland put in an outstanding performance against the eventual gold medallists, who told the Scots that this had been by far their hardest match so far in the competition.

10 May semi finals, second round of 9-13 play offs

Australia beat Germany 4-0 to qualify to play Netherlands, who beat England 2-1, in the final.

10 May Scotland 2 (Sturrock, Johnstone) New Zealand 0

A field goal by Niall Sturrock in the 15th minute put Scotland in the driving seat in this classification match at the end of the first quarter, and a penalty corner goal scored by Derek Johnstone three minutes before half time made the score 2-0 at the break. Niall Sturrock saw out the last two minutes from the naughty seat after a green card in the 69th minute but Scotland saw out the match with no further scoring, and marched on to the 5th/6th place final on 11 May.

11 May 5-6 (South Africa-Scotland) and 7-8 (Japan-New Zealand) finals, third round of 9-13 play offs

Wins by South Africa (2-0 against Scotland) and New Zealand (6-0 against Japan) decided the minor placings:

5th South Africa; 6th Scotland; 7th New Zealand; 8th Japan.

11 May 5th/6th final South Africa 2 Scotland 0

South Africa were on the back foot for most of this match as Scotland pressed for the win which would earn them fifth place. The match was scoreless in the first half but South Africa took the lead from a penalty corner goal from Bedford in 40 minutes. Scotland redoubled their efforts, forcing a series of short corners which they were unable to prevent. With the Scots pressing hard, South Africa broke upfield and increased their lead through a Kelly field goal two minutes into the final quarter. South Africa were on the ropes in the final quarter, receiving three green cards between their goal and the end of the match as they defended desperately, but Scotland simply could find the net and ended the tournament in sixth place behind the South Africans.